Category Archives: App Store Insiders

FastFoot Challenge Transforms Hide and Seek; Available Now

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FastFoot Challenge Transforms Hide and Seek; Available Now is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

If you thought that the seemingly simple game of hide and seek couldn’t be changed, think again. FastFoot Challenge developers Urban Team have created an application that utilizes the iPhone’s GPS capabilities to make hide and seek a lot more, well, real.

In essence, you have one runner (known as player ‘x’) who has a certain amount of time to get as far away as possible. Their location is then updated once every six minutes for the seekers to find. The runner escapes successfully by not being caught for a certain amount of time, adjustable in each round. With one runner you can have as many as six seekers.

“We wanted to create a game for people who enjoy to play outdoors with and within their environment. It is like a new kind of sports” writes Tom Nicolai, CEO and co-founder of Urban Team. “But you do not need a dedicated playing field for it. I prefer to play in the city, where there are a lot of possibilities to hide and confuse the opponents.”

The application, which was awarded ‘Best Real World Game’ by the International Mobile Game Awards, is currently priced at an introductory offer of $3.99 and is available to download worldwide. There’s a free lite version which you can check out first, limiting the number of total players to two. The game is also available on Nokia’s OVI store, as well as Android Applications. The game is cross-platform compatible, meaning not everyone needs an iPhone.

You’ll need an iPhone 3G, 3GS or 4 to make use of GPS, as well as a data connection for your location to be uploaded. And please, if you’re using an iPhone 4, be sure to have a bumper case on so that reception issues won’t ruin your outside-fun.

$3.99

FastFoot: GPS Jump’n’Run PRO

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-05-20 :: Category: Games / Sports

FREE!

FastFoot: GPS Jump’n’Run LITE

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-05-19 :: Category: Games / Sports

[ FastFoot Challenge Transforms Hide and Seek; Available Now is a post from 148Apps ]


Silence is golden, especially for Pastebot

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Silence is golden, especially for Pastebot is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Pastebot, the powerful clipboard manager application, was going to become a whole lot better with the release of iOS4 and multitasking. Or so we thought. The application, developed by Tapbots, allows you to copy from other applications like Safari or Mail and have an entire history of your copies in a clipboard, exportable to Mac, right from your iPhone or iPod Touch. The only qualm was that you had to open the application every time you wanted your clip to be saved. Hence, multitasking could have been a dream come true for advocates of the clipboard application.

“Our dreams of an ideal Pastebot were crumbling away as we heard the limitations of [multitasking in iOS4]” wrote Mark Jardine, designer of the application. “Apple had not provided a way to let Pastebot run in the background.” With disappointed customers and dissatisfied team members, Tapbots had to start thinking of an out-of-the-ordinary solution. They almost had it.

“Paul came up with an idea that would actually allow Pastebot to run in the background” Mark continues. “The idea is to have a silent audio clip play in the background. This would use one of Apple’s backgrounding APIs that allows music to play in the background. Turns out it works flawlessly.” In short, using the iPod’s background play feature allowed beta testers to reap the full benefits of Pastebot without having to reload the application. But after a week of waiting for a response from Apple, the update was denied as it altered the way a background process was meant to be run.

Today, the solution is here. Within the aforementioned rejection letter, Apple wrote that the application could be approved if actual music was played in the background. So that’s exactly what the developers did, by integrating the iPod application into Pastebot, thus allowing you to choose a song to listen to. “Having a song playing in the background while Pastebot runs in the background isn’t ideal” says Mark, “but nothing is stopping the user from putting their device on mute or better yet, using a silent audio clip of their own.” The application is due to be re-submitted in the very near future.

Humorously, Tapbots link you to a certain CNET article that explains how there are some artists who sell the sound of silence. For Pastebot, silence really is golden.

Read our review of Pastebot here. Interested in other Tapbots applications? Read our reviews of Calcbot and Convertbot too.

[Quotes courtesy of Tapbots]

$3.99

Pastebot — Command Copy & Paste

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Our Rating: ★★★★☆ :: A CUT ABOVE THE REST
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-12-15 :: Category: Productivity

[ Silence is golden, especially for Pastebot is a post from 148Apps ]


Campfire developers 37signals acquires Ember, changes its name and makes it free

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Campfire developers 37signals acquires Ember, changes its name and makes it free is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Campfire, the project collaboration application with real time chat designed for private groups where members can share files, text, code and more (think of it as a more powerful IRC client), can now be found on the App Store as an official application by 37signals due to a takeover of Ember, the third-party application developer of Campfire. Ember, as it was then known, was originally priced at $9.99, but developers 37signals saw an opportunity which allowed them to “work out a deal [with Ember and make] a few changes to the app” according to the official blog. As of July 26th, the application has rebranded and re-released with a new price tag: rather, no price tag at all. It’s free to download from the iTunes App Store.

Although the application itself is free, a Campfire account is not. The basic package allows up to 12 chatters and 1GB of storage for $12 a month, and for $24 a month you can upgrade that to 25 chatters, 3GB of storage as well as 500 conference call minutes and enhanced security over the Basic package. A free 30-day trial is available on all accounts.

37signals continues to become a prominent player in the business network, having released other popular applications and clients that allow more professional social networking to take place. Basecamp, Highrise and Backpack all have one thing in common: their developer is Campfire creator 37signals. You can download the free Campfire application by clicking the link below, which will redirect you to iTunes.

[Thanks to IntoMobile for reporting this.]

FREE!

37signals Campfire

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-07-24 :: Category: Productivity

[ Campfire developers 37signals acquires Ember, changes its name and makes it free is a post from 148Apps ]


App Store State of the Union: On the Second Birthday of the App Store

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App Store State of the Union: On the Second Birthday of the App Store is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Mr. CEO, members of the developer program, iOS users, and abusers. I have come here today not to only address the great advances of the App Store but to also address the issues.

During the past year the App Store has seen amazing growth. We’ve seen a quadrupling of the number of applications, downloads, and devices. Since it’s inception, the App Store has generated over 1.5 billion dollars in revenue for Apple with over a billion dollars of that going to developers.

The App Store is a unique mobile application market. Apple has done something that no other device manufacturer had done before or since. Not only has Apple developed a common mobile platform delivered across a variety of devices, they have done so across over eighty different countries and mobile carriers. This is the most perfect mobile device and application marketplace match ever created. Apple controls everything from the device research and development, manufacturing, sales, and application delivery. Reducing the mobile carriers to the point that they are simply service providers. Prior to the iPhone, mobile carriers controlled everything from device features, names, and what applications were available at what price. Under the iPhone, they control just the cellular service. Palm, Google, and soon Microsoft will try to replicate the Apple App Store model, but none have yet to be able to — even though they have the perfect example of how to do so.

One year ago there were 65,000 applications available that had amassed 1.5 billion downloads. As of now there are over 229,000 applications available and those applications have been downloaded a total of over 5 billion times.

Growth in the number of applications this year has been more linear than the exponential growth we saw the first year. That has more to do with the saturation of the app store than it does with size of the market. Over the past 12 months we saw nearly 200,000 new applications approved and nearly 4 billion additional downloads. That’s a 3x growth in number of applications this year as opposed to a 109x growth the first year. That works out to a pretty steady 10-20% growth in the number of applications, month-over-month for the past 12 months.

If the current growth trends continue, the App Store could see 35 billion downloads of nearly three-quarters of a million different apps one year from today. Lofty goals indeed, but I don’t think we expected to see the growth we saw this past year. With the continued adoption of the platform on revised devices like the iPhone 4, and whole new device lines like the iPad, and potentially others, I think there’s a great chance that it will continue that growth.

While in it’s first year, application prices dropped considerably and quickly, they have remained fairly steady this year. Due to changes made this year we can expect to see the growth of freemium applications continue as well. And more income will be generated by in-app purchases versus application sales. This is something we can not track though, so it will be a mystery how much income this will bring developers.

The last year has not been without issues. While the App Store to consumer segment continues to be very well received, Apple still has issues to address with it’s developer relations. While greatly improved, there are still issues with application approval. In addition, the open-ended nature of that developer agreement has given Apple the opportunity to change their mind repeatedly and remove an entire segment of application from the App Store without notice.

The developer tools provided by Apple continue to evolve. Xcode, the development environment provided by Apple is consistently lauded by developers as the best available on any platform. The next version, Xcode 4 appears to be even better. While still in beta and under NDA, developers have been leaking a few details here and there that make it sound like a great step forward. Adding features often requested and integration of features such as interface designer and the Instruments performance monitor into the main application.

While everyone knows that developers have to play by Apple’s rules if they want to be in the App Store, those rules are an ever changing target. This causes problems as it’s difficult to develop to rules that are enforced inconsistently and constantly changing. We’ve seen whole companies sprout up, spend money researching and developing applications, and then be ruined as those applications were not approved by Apple for sale in the App Store. Thereby destroying the company that had been built up exclusively to develop for the iOS platform. This has to change.

We’ve also seen whole segments of application approved for sale and then later removed from the App Store. Segments such as Google Voice based application, applications that present a desktop-like interface, and so-called bikini apps were once approved and then later removed – en masse from the App Store. This too has to change.

The application approval delay has been reduced considerably — a job well done there. But there are still some apps that fall through the cracks and don’t get approved in a timely manner. The real issue there is that the developers don’t know why. There is no communication back to the developers on what is going on, what the potential issue is, or how to resolve it. It appears this is usually caused by an exception. An app reviewer takes a look at the app and has a question and passes it up the chain of approval. That seems to be where it gets stalled. Nothing is communicated back to the developer other than it requires further review and it can stall for weeks in that status. Oddly, some developers have been able to remove that application and re-submit and have it go right through as a different reviewer doesn’t see an issue. There is the inconsistency and communication issues, those need to change.

Over this coming year I hope to see Apple firm up it’s developer agreement and explicitly spelling out what developers can and can not do in the App Store. And then the important part, stick to that agreement for all developers. You can’t ignore the rules for some developers and strictly enforce them for others.

While there are reasons to change the rules to adapt to the changes in the market, keeping these changes to a minimum and communicating them properly before they are made are the key to keeping your developers happier.

Censorship has become a concern. We’ve seen the issue where any application that pulls data from the Internet needs to be marked as 17+ since they could, theoretically, pull adult content. This has been very randomly applied to apps it seems. If it were consistently applied, the NY Times application would be marked 17+. It, of course is not marked that way. We’ve also seen applications rejected that could be considered a freedom of press concern.

Censorship could become a major concern, and something to think about for any publication releasing an app on the App Store. Some theorize a world where Apple can control the media by approving or disallowing applications based on their political content. While I don’t think it’s a huge potential concern — or at least not as much of a concern as conspiracy theorists would make you believe — it needs to be considered when developing for the iOS platform.

In summary, the App Store is growing by a phenomenal amount and sales of devices and applications show no real signs of slowing down. We’ve seen growing pains as the larger the App Store gets, the harder it is to manage, in general those have been addressed well. There are issues with developer relations and approvals, but consumers are happier than ever.

In spite of the issues, the state of the App Store is strong.

[ App Store State of the Union: On the Second Birthday of the App Store is a post from 148Apps ]


Beware Of App Store Spammers, Says Developer

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Beware Of App Store Spammers, Says Developer is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

The next time you hear of a cool app and jump straight on to the App Store to get it, make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for and check where it’s coming from.

That’s the advice of Marco Arment, developer of Instapaper for iPhone and iPad.

Writing on his personal blog, Marco notes the staggering number of applications playing on the name of successful apps or using similar keywords in order to con unwitting App Store customers into buying them.

Popular bird-launching game, Angry Birds, is one such successful application plagued by a host of pretenders that are found when searching the App Store for its title. Of the top ten search results, only four apps appear legitimate with the actual Angry Birds game and its Lite version making up two of these. Six of the top ten search results are made up of cheat apps and walkthroughs.

ESCAPP’s Angry Birds Cheats, for example, appears in the top five searches and uses a lookalike icon. At $0.99 (the same price as the full Angry Birds app) the application’s description reads “Wonderful and addictive cheats. Accept No Imitations”.

That should be no imitations other than the imitation of affiliation with an actual application and/or developer.

We’ve not downloaded Angry Birds Cheats, but with 432 one star reviews out of 487 and reviews entitled “Absolute Rubbish!!” and “Waste of time money and effort” we’re willing to gamble our reputation on this being a pretty poor app. Add to this that the developer, ESCAPP, doesn’t have a working website but a GoDaddy holding page instead, and the fraud is complete.

InTekOne, LLC is another app publisher working in a similar way but this time using a modified version of the Angry Birds icon for its Angry Birds Walkthrough app. Once again, its site does not appear when clicked in iTunes and it’s left up to the poor developer, who was presumably commissioned to create the app, to shoulder the blame.

Chillingo, the publisher of Angry Birds, is equally unhappy with these apps: “We are going to send a formal copyright infringement request to Apple about these apps soon,” said Joe Wee, Director of Chillingo.

Chillingo prefers to reward loyal gamers with hints and tips at no cost by providing walkthrough trailers on its Developers’ YouTube channels. That way, they get free, valid information directly from the source. Angry Birds’ developer Rovio provides official suggestions for Angry Birds here

So what can you do to avoid inadvertently downloading fake apps or “squatters” who use successful apps as a marketing tool? Unfortunately, not a lot. Of course, you’re free to contact Apple and let them know your thoughts and Marco Arment also lists ways developers can protect their intellectual property from such apps on his site here.

For the average consumer, however, it appears that vigilance is your only weapon. Find out the name of the developer, check their website and, most importantly, read the app’s reviews for consumer feedback before buying.

Neither ESCAPP nor InTekOne, LLC have responded to our contact regarding their applications at time of writing.

[ via Marco.org ]

[ Beware Of App Store Spammers, Says Developer is a post from 148Apps ]


Apple Buys Siri — Replacement for Voice Control?

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Apple Buys Siri — Replacement for Voice Control? is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Siri, the app that is billed as your personal assistant, was bought by Apple recently. While no official announcement has been made, the proper FTC merger announcement making it all but official.

Siri is a voice controlled app that interfaces with lots of web based services providing you access t data like movie show times, events, local businesses, etc. Take a look at this demo video of Siri to get an idea of the power of the app:

My guess is that we’ll see Siri integrated into the OS to replace the less than stellar Voice Control. It would make great sense to increase the quality and the features of Voice Control. Hopefully we’ll see this in iPhone OS 4, but if not I’d expect it quickly after in an update.

Go ahead and grab Siri and give it a preview right now. How would you like to see Apple use this technology on the iPhone?

Siri Assistant

Category: Productivity
Released: 2010-02-05
Price: FREE

[via TechCrunch]

[ Apple Buys Siri — Replacement for Voice Control? is a post from 148Apps ]


Apple (finally) Announces WWDC Dates

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Apple (finally) Announces WWDC Dates is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Picture 5Just 40 days before the start of WWDC, Apple has finally announced the dates for WWDC, their annual developer conference. And there are some major changes this year.

WWDC will be held in San Francisco, at Moscone Convention Center West from June 7th-11th. The ticket price has risen this year to $1599 and are available through the Apple Developer portal.

The big changes this year are a definite slant toward the iPhone OS and the iPhone/iPad devices. Last year, sessions were split between Mac OS, Enterprise IT and iPhone OS sessions. This year there’s nothing but iPhone OS. Though a few of the sessions do apply to Enterprise IT, they are iPhone focused.

Read More at 148Apps.biz

[ Apple (finally) Announces WWDC Dates is a post from 148Apps ]


iPad App Prices — what can we expect? We ask the app developers.

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iPad App Prices — what can we expect? We ask the app developers. is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

gallery-software-appstore-20100225There has been very little information available about what we can expect to see for iPad app prices and their method of publishing. With the increased size of the screen, many are calling for greatly increased prices noting that the iPad is more like a laptop computer than it is a mobile device. Others believe that since the operating system and development environment are pretty much duplicates of the iPhone that app prices will fall in a similar range. We did a quick survey of some developers to see what their plans are for how they are going to release their iPad apps and what we can expect in iPad app prices.

In addition to the price question, how will applications be released? Apple has made available to developers two different ways to create applications for the iPad. In addition there are various forms of those two methods developers are looking to use as well.

Univeral or HD/XL?

The first method of iPad app creation is to create a unique application, an app with a new name and a unique bundle id. These iPad only apps, while they may share the same functions of their iPhone versions, will be unique and require customers to purchase the iPad version even if they have already purchased the iPhone version. We will also likely see some applications as iPad only that are unique to the iPad in that they just wouldn’t work on the iPhone with a small screen.

The second method to create an iPad application is to release what is designated by Apple as a Universal build app. These are apps that work both on the iPhone and the iPad. The apps have functionality built in that will recognize if they are running on an iPad and show the proper iPad controls and display full screen on the device. For the customer, this is the obvious preference. If you have already bought the iPhone version, the iPad version is just an update away, at no additional cost.

In our survey of developers, a slight majority (52%) indicated that they will be developing Universal builds for their iPad applications over iPad specific (48%) versions.

Since Apple has indicated that Universal builds that are updates to existing apps should not yet be submitted to the App Store, this leaves the developer of universal builds at a little bit of a disadvantage as it’s likely they will not be available for the device launch on 4/3.

Read on for more results of our developer survey, and have your say in our consumer survey.

Another interesting aspect is how will users respond to iPad only versions. We finicky users like stuff for free! While most recognize the developers right to increase revenue by creating iPad only versions, once user compare those apps to universal builds, there will be an outcry from users. It’s to be expected, even if it’s not justified.

There are good reasons for the developer for creating iPad only versions. These reasons are very difficult to relay to the user though. In our survey, Jiva DeVoe gave some great reasons for creating iPad only versions:


“#1. File size. My iPhone app is already 75MB… I can’t justify the additional weight of the iPad art assets.

#2. I think the code will be less complex having a split version. Less “if(iPad) ” type code. That sounds tricky to debug. I’ll share code between them, but I won’t do one release for both platforms.

#3. I really want to take advantage of the iPad platform, and with a seperate version, I’ll be less tempted to make it just ‘Good enough’ by leaving an iPhone-specific thing in there.”
-Jiva DeVoe

While from a developer standpoint, these all seem like great reasons to create iPad specific versions. But try explaining that to the user, a much more difficult task. Developer David Frampton, creator of Chopper sees it differently:

“Universal makes sense for a 3D game like Chopper 2, as there is very little extra content on offer, aside from a few higher resolution textures. Also, for me this is an easy port, and one I had always anticipated. So there is no reason to charge customers twice for essentially the same product. There will probably be a small increase in app size as a result, but this isn’t a major concern for me.”
-David Frampton

And developer Mike Piontek weighs in on the customer side.

“I don’t want my existing customers to have to buy a new app just to use it on their iPad. I also think that dealing with separate versions of a bunch of apps is going to be a hassle, so I hope universal apps are more common.

That said, I really wish I could charge a small upgrade fee for existing users. It’s a lot of work to build an iPad compatible version, and customers with multiple devices will put more strain on my servers. While I could take advantage of In App Purchase in some way, I really wish Apple would just give us the option of charging a small upgrade fee. Not being able to do that is the only thing that’s made me consider doing a separate version.”
-Mike Piontek

The option of using in-app purchase to unlock iPad only features is an interesting one and one that might be a good compromise to allow users to maintain a single application while compensating developers for the time it takes to enhance an app to take advantage of the iPad features.

The expense for creating the iPad version of most applications will be considerable. Non-3D games will be even more expensive to upsize to the new iPad dimensions. While most agree that the user should foot the bill for these updates as it is the consumer that is getting the extra benefit, that communication will be very difficult.

James Brown, the developer of Ancient Frog will be splitting the difference:

“The current iPhone version will be upgraded to be native iPad / iPhone, but there will also be a separate iPad-only version. “
-James Brown

Pricing

The next big issue is pricing. How will pricing of iPad apps come out? Will developers of Universal apps increase their prices?

packaging_20100127For developers of Universal apps, the majority (56%) will keep the prices the same as their current iPhone-only apps. Only 10% of the respondents indicated that prices will likely go up with the addition if iPad optimized features.

There really is no consensus on iPad only applications. The largest percentage of responses to the survey (42%) said that they were currently uncertain of what their pricing would be in relation to iPhone app prices. The second largest group (32%) indicated that their prices would match iPhone app prices though. 13% indicated the prices would be about 1.5x the cost of iPhone applications and 11% indicated double the price.

While we don’t know much about game pricing for the iPad yet, we do have a couple indications on the application front. Apple has already stated that they will be releasing the three iWork applications for the iPad priced at $9.99 each. Effectively this will be setting the bar for applications of similar functionality and scope.

But one developer is apparently going well beyond that price point. OmniGroup, developer of many great Mac desktop applications announced recently that they were going full-bore into the iPad marketplace and developing all of their core applications for the iPad. AppAdvice have uncovered that their first application, OmniGraffle has already been approved for sale in the App Store. This iPad only application carries a hefty price tag of $49.99. A risky price point that could see application prices rise for the iPad, if successful.

We tried to contact Omni Group for verification of this, but at the time of publication they had not responded.

Release Day Quickly Approaching

When the app store first launched, there were over 500 applications and games on it, ready for the app hungry consumers. When the iPad App Store launches, it will be a different world and there are a few things to consider. Developers saw the impact of being in the App Store on day one had to the iPhone apps that were available. Lots of consumers with new devices means that they will be looking for applications to try on their new devices. This could translate to lots of sales.

When the iPhone App Store launched, there were already devices available that developers could test on. Currently very few developers have even touched an iPad. Apple preferring to keep them under lock and key and only release a few to larger developers. This leaves the developers to let Apple test their applications on the iPad to make sure they work. But Apple can’t test them to make sure they function correctly. So the vast majority of iPad applications released on day one will be untested on the device by their developers. And we can expect lots of quick updates immediately following the initial release.

There are also a lot more developers signed up for the iPhone/iPad SDK program than there were before the iPhone App Store launch. This could indicate more people readying applications for the iPad launch.

Some developers, to be part of the rush to the iPad App Store, are releasing iPad only versions to take advantage of the launch. It’s a good marketing opportunity. Be there when it launches and the fervor is at it’s height. We’ll see if that decision is a good one by what consumers response to iPad only versions of applications they already have on the iPhone is.

How many apps will we see on release day? There’s no way to know for sure since we don’t have access to the list of applications until the iPad App Store is launched on 4/3. We really have no idea how many iPad apps we will see released on the first day. But my guess is we will see a fair number more than the 500 that the iPhone launched with. While some developers of Universal apps will wait until 4/3 to submit their application, we will see lots of Universal apps go live the week following the launch.

Let’s Hear From You

What do you think, the consumer? We want to hear your feedback. Take this quick little survey and let us know what you want to see with iPad apps (universal / unique), pricing, etc.

[ iPad App Prices — what can we expect? We ask the app developers. is a post from 148Apps ]


First Look: Word Crasher. Dropping January 11th.

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First Look: Word Crasher. Dropping January 11th. is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

IMG_0065

Having worked 12 years in the gaming industry, working as a software engineer and senior programmer with major gaming outfits such as EA and RockStar Games, Edinburgh-based Kevin Ng has worked on and helped develop a slew of well-known console titles which we will most likely be familiar with or have played at some point in our lives; including the likes of: “Skate” for Xbox 360, “Bully” for PS2 and “Starlancer” for PC and Dreamcast. Leaving that life behind though (for the most part) Kevin is now going solo, becoming an independent developer specifically targeting the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. He was kind enough to give me a quick heads up on his debut iPhone title, and I even scored myself a pre-release promo copy to take a look at .. (Cheers, Kevin!).

Dropping January 11th, Word Crasher is a well-designed, graphically exciting word game. Playing through two modes; Marathon and Flood Panic the aim of the game is to create words from the letter chips that fall from above – but don’t make the mistake of picturing this as your normal every-day word puzzle. Its much more dynamic. Usually with these types of games we see a rigid setup which involves some kind of grid-like area, and you having to draw out or follow a certain path in order to create a word. Word Crasher throws that rule book away, adding it’s own pretty unique twist to it’s gameplay.

The game is set out in a ‘tank-like’ environment. With fairly straight forward gameplay, at the start of each level a number of letter ‘chips’ fall to the ground, and every few seconds or so after that, another letter chip will be added into the mix. Unlike other word puzzles of it’s genre, in Word Crasher you’re able to make a word from any of the letters on screen, regardless of their current position or proximity to others letters on screen. Almost psychedelic in it’s approach, the game has a sort of modern retro feel to it. Tapping letters on the board will see a faint colorful neon-like glow surround them. As you select various letters to create a word, they appear at the bottom of the screen allowing you to see just what you’ve selected and whether it actually does make sense (unlike my attempt – seen right!). The games AI then lets you know if the word exists by lighting up either the ‘tick’ symbol (bottom right), or cross symbol (bottom left).

The game’s “Flood Panic” mode injects even more challenge, introducing a rising water level which creates both a frenzied-type gameplay experience and a race against the clock. Having spent some time with the game, my first impressions are that this is one polished, well-designed and thought out title.

Fully supported by Open Feint, Word Crasher is reportedly set to make it’s debut on January 11th at the introductory price of $0.99 .. returning to $1.99 afterward. Also, while you’re at it, be sure to checkout the game’s official site at wordcrasher.com.